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New UK military communications satellite Skynet 5A goes live
The British military's latest high-tech communication satellite has been commissioned into service following its successful launch in South America last month.
The satellite, Skynet 5A, is the first of three to be launched under a £3 billion Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programme which has seen the Ministry of Defence working in partnership with Paradigm Secure Communications, who are the service providers, and EADS-Astrium, who built the satellite itself.
The satellite, with its world beating antenna technology and high power and data rates, provides a significant enhancement to operational capability for our forces - whether deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan or at sea. It is also being used in the field of welfare services, to provide 'free' messages between service personnel on operations and their families and friends.
The British military's latest high-tech communication satellite has been commissioned into service following its successful launch in South America last month.
The satellite, Skynet 5A, is the first of three to be launched under a £3 billion Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programme which has seen the Ministry of Defence working in partnership with Paradigm Secure Communications, who are the service providers, and EADS-Astrium, who built the satellite itself.
The satellite, with its world beating antenna technology and high power and data rates, provides a significant enhancement to operational capability for our forces - whether deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan or at sea. It is also being used in the field of welfare services, to provide 'free' messages between service personnel on operations and their families and friends.
Terminator kill-bots to be run by system called 'Skynet'
Following the announcement of the new Flying-HK-style "Reaper" death machines for the British forces, the prophetic nature of the Terminator movies has been further confirmed.
Not only will the UK MoD deploy airborne cyber-gunships remarkably similar to those in the films, the flying robot assassins will be controlled by an IT project named "Skynet".
This latest case of life imitating art (well, kind of art) was revealed this morning, with the news that the first of the Skynet 5 satellites has gone operational and is now successfully carrying data to and from British forces fighting in Southwest Asia.
"This important milestone is very good news for the armed forces," said Lord Drayson, the Minister for Defence Procurement. "Skynet 5 will supply about 2.5 times the capacity of the old system and generate a very significant improvement for our global communications systems - allowing us to pass more data faster. It is an excellent example of a successful Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal."
Following the announcement of the new Flying-HK-style "Reaper" death machines for the British forces, the prophetic nature of the Terminator movies has been further confirmed.
Not only will the UK MoD deploy airborne cyber-gunships remarkably similar to those in the films, the flying robot assassins will be controlled by an IT project named "Skynet".
This latest case of life imitating art (well, kind of art) was revealed this morning, with the news that the first of the Skynet 5 satellites has gone operational and is now successfully carrying data to and from British forces fighting in Southwest Asia.
"This important milestone is very good news for the armed forces," said Lord Drayson, the Minister for Defence Procurement. "Skynet 5 will supply about 2.5 times the capacity of the old system and generate a very significant improvement for our global communications systems - allowing us to pass more data faster. It is an excellent example of a successful Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal."